ALL good things, so the saying goes, come to an end.

And so they have for Heywood-based business Woodrowe Tree Technicians which has been operating in Heywood and the surrounding area for more than 30 years.

David (‘Strop’) and Colleen Rowe, owners of the business, closed their doors for the final time on Friday, May 17.

But their departure does not mean the area will be left without any tree technician services.

Their son, Adam Rowe, who has been general manager of the business since 2004, will be slotting into the space filled by their exit and starting his own business from the Woodrowe premises: ArborRowe Trees & Traffic.

The name says it all. 

Woodrowe Tree Technicians was borne of ‘Strop’s’ first job – at Drumborg.

“It’s just what I did, I suppose,” Mr Rowe said.

“I always worked out in the bush as a tree puller, then a mate decided to buy a cherry picker and I bought a chipper and went from there.”

Since starting the business, he’s “worked everywhere”; travelling as far afield as Roxby Downs in South Australia, “cutting mulga trees away from power lines”.

In the beginning, Mrs Rowe helped out by doing the book work, but found herself needed less and less as the company expanded and put on more admin staff.

“All the girls in the office now do all of that work, and we’ve also had Adam,” she said.

Adam Rowe, a middle son in a ‘blended’ family of six children, said his parents’ business started with “Shire roads stuff” and it was in about 2003 that Woodrowe signed up to a big contract with Powercor.

“So, in the end, we had Heywood, Portland, Hamilton, Warrnambool and Cobden areas. We had almost 50 people working here at one stage,” Adam Rowe said.

But when the subbie they were contracted to went bust, Woodrowe Tree Technicians had to put off about 23 of their own workers.

That was in 2012 and was “really hard,” Mrs Rowe said.

“Our staff were part of our family – we always had barbies and trips away; we didn’t know any other way.

“Putting them off was probably the hardest thing we ever had to do.”

COVID was no walk in the park, either.

Many of Woodrowe’s workers refused to get vaccinations and had to be ‘let go’; one worker died from the virus early on in the pandemic, and the business closed down for a fortnight altogether.

“It was a really hard time and it’s been hard ever since,” Adam said.

“Before COVID we had about six to 10 well-qualified people a week knocking on the door looking for work, but since then we might get one a month.

“Trying to find workers to fill their place was really hard because we still had plenty of work.”

Staff also need to be highly qualified and in particular have a chainsaw ticket, traffic control ticket, ESI Training, and white card, Adam said.

“They’re the main ones, and it generally costs about $10k to train a worker in all of those.”

Mrs Rowe put that in perspective: “But you’ve got to remember, you only get one chance under those power lines.”

As for the immediate future, Adam Rowe is content with starting small with ArborRowe Trees & Traffic.

“I’d just like a fresh start and want to start small; whereas if I bought this business I’d have to buy 20 employees, but I’d rather start small and start again.

“Stacey (Schack) will stay as admin, and all the other employees have been offered casual positions as well.

“I’ll probably start with four and see how it goes from there,” Adam said.

The work will stay the same: “A bit of government contract work, a bit of private …It ebbs and flows. This time of year we’ve been busy with VicRoads/traffic control stuff, then once the new financial year comes around that will pretty much stop until they sort all their buckets out. Then it will be primarily privates and a little bit of Shire work.”

When Woodrowe first started doing traffic control, around 2004/2005, they had to get workers from Geelong.

“We saw a bit of an opening there,” Adam said.

“So we went from mainly doing tree work to doing about 75 per cent traffic control.”

But that’s all in the past now for Adam’s mother and father.

“It’s our time now to enjoy the good life,” Mr Rowe said.

“We’ve bought a small farm at Digby and we’ve been playing around up there and that will do us.”

So, with 20 head of ‘liquorice all sorts’ cattle (Hereford and Angus) and no farming experience, the couple, who got together after “crossing paths” at the Heywood school, are looking forward to a very different chapter of their lives.

Adam will stay on in the same premises but with only about half the equipment.

“It will be a bit scary at first, but I’ll get there eventually,” he said.

“Adam will do well,” said Mrs Rowe. “We’re both really proud of him.”